john boehner couldn't even pass his plan in the house. that was something that was worked up by him and eric cantor and others. so the real test here and i think challenge the president and john boehner sitting down again over the next three or four days. i think we have a few more days. we go over the cliff on the first but the new congress isn't sworn in until january 3rd. if they can work out, maybe just a small deal now. maybe down payments on cuts. maybe it is protecting, certainly protecting tax cuts for the middle class and small businesses and doing, you know, a few things to medicare, and then that gets us into next year where we can do bigger stuff like corporate tax reform and larger reforms to the tax code. jon: amos, what do you think about that proposal? >> that proposal, the whole situation is telling. we didn't have to be here. we all saw this coming for months. we knew it was coming. doug is right, house republicans did act. they acted to stop the defense cuts and stop the tax hikes. what happened since then, senate democ